Sacramento County
Biographies
WILLIAM I. ELLIOTT
W. I. ELLIOTT.--It is fortunate for the
motorist of today, when one stops to consider the important interests at stake
in the selection and in the maintenance of a car, that men of such integrity,
experience and enterprise as W. I. Elliott, the well-known dealer in
automobiles, are at the various helms. A native of England, where he was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on October 5, 1877.
Mr. Elliott has found greater opportunities in America,
and he has been privileged to lead in the great work of industrial
development. Our subject was educated in
the county schools of San Luis Obispo,
after which he took a course at a business college. From 1898 to 1901, he had charge of the
Atascadero Ranch at Atascadero, San Luis Obispo County,
and then he went back to Stockton,
where he was engaged in the automobile business from 1902 to 1904. Removing to Sacramento,
he took the Mitchell agency in 1908, and continued to manage that until 1913,
and for the next three years, he sold the Reo automobile. In 1916, he represented the Chevrolet. In 1908 Mr. Elliott opened the first
automobile salesroom at 1217 K Street
in Sacramento.
From
the start, Mr. Elliott has been unusually successful, having undertaken to
cater to the public’s wants with the assistance of only two people; and now he
needs forty skilled helpers to meet the ever-growing wants. His headquarters are at 16th and J
Streets, where he built a three-story reinforced
concrete fireproof building, and he handles not only new, but second-hand
cars. He has a branch at Marysville, and
his territory embraces ten counties, Sacramento, Yolo,
Colusa, Yuba, Sutter, Placer, Amador, Eldorado,
Nevada and Sierra
Counties. His was the first Chevrolet contract signed
in California. He is one of the few old-time automobile men
still in the business; and it is natural to find him a live wire and president
of the Rotary Club. He is interested in
ranching and is a director in the Merchants National Bank at Sacramento.
At
Atascadero, in 1901, Mr. Elliott was married to Miss Edna Skinner, of San
Luis Obispo, where she was well-known in local social
circles; and they have one son, Irving, who is now in the high school. Mr. Elliott farms a little, and when not thus
engaged by way of serious diversion, he spends his time with fellow Masons, K. T.’s, Shriners or Elks, or at the
Sutter or Del Paso Country Club, as he is fond of golf. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
Transcribed
by Priscilla Delventhal.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History
of Sacramento County, California With Biographical
Sketches, Page 989. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA.
1923.
© 2007 P. J. Delventhal.